Mcdonald Island Ranch San Joaquin County, California
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
McDonald Island Ranch San Joaquin County, California Proudly Offered By 707 Merchant Street, Suite 100, Vacaville, Ca 95688 (707) 455-4444 Office (707) 455-0455 Fax [email protected] DRE# 01838294 Introduction This 944 acre property is located in San Joaquin County about 20 minutes from the city of Stockton, CA. It is on McDonald Island which is in the Sacramento River/ San Joaquin river delta. The property is adjacent to Mandeville and Medford islands. The delta is known for its incredible rich soils, wonderful recreation with fishing, boating and water skiing and some of the best duck hunting around. The property can be served by the Stockton airport about 20 miles away or commercial flights from San Francisco, CA 80 miles away. The island is accessed via private bridge that is manned by an armed guard 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. The property has beautiful views of Mt. Diablo and the of course the delta. You have it all on a beautiful delta island; new 150’ boat dock, club house, caretaker home, shop, 155 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon grapes, 322 acres of corn, great duck hunting, fishing and boating. This is a private and secure island treasure with year round access. 2 Size and Description The property consists of 9 parcels: APN# 129-080-34 4.2 acres APN# 129-080-67 86.3 acres APN# 129-080-68 181.5 acres APN# 129-080-33 454 acres APN# 129-080-03 208 acres APN# 129-080-69 1 acres APN# 129-080-45 1.1 acres APN# 129-080-44 2.8 acres APN# 129-080-35 5.3 acres The property is currently in the Williamson act and is zoned agriculture. “The California Land Conservation Act of 1965--commonly referred to as the Williamson Act--enables local governments to enter into contracts with private landowners for the purpose of restricting specific parcels of land to agricultural or related open space use. In return, landowners receive property tax assessments which are much lower than normal because they are based upon farming and open space uses as opposed to full market value. Local governments receive an annual subvention of forgone property tax revenues from the state via the Open Space Subvention Act of 1971.” The property is on the North West corner of McDonald Island. The land is flat and is surrounded by a very well maintained levee system. The levee is maintained by the reclamation district 2030 and is rated as good with 95% rip- rapped. McDonald Island consists of 4 landowners: Zuckerman-Heritage, Zuckerman-Mandeville, PG&E and Clavius Land Company. PG&E assumes 88% of the RD2030 assessments because of the huge assessed value of its natural gas storage facility. The owner stated that the yearly fees are around $53,000 a year. The Sacramento-San Joaquin river delta covers an area of 1,100 square miles, or over 700,000 acres. The meandering rivers and sloughs combine to form over 700 miles of waterways and create over 50 reclaimed islands and tracts. All of the land is near or below sea level with an average of 7.5 feet below. Water Water is gold and this ranch has lots of it. 80% of the drinking water for the state of California flows through the delta. The main job of the reclamation district is to keep the water out. For around $53,000 a year, you can use as much water as 4 needed and at the same time maintain the important levee system that protects your valuable land. Currently, the owner irrigates 155 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon grapes and 322 acres of corn. They also flood fields for duck hunting. Irrigation water is drawn by multiple siphons from the rivers, canals and sloughs surrounding the island at numerous locations. Distribution is via open dirt ditches. Drainage is pumped from the island at two or three points into the surrounding waterways. The reclamation district does a good good and is responsible for maintaining 13.7 miles of levees and the drainage pumps. The houses are are fed from the same delta water and the owner uses bottled water for drinking. There are no mineral rights with the property. Agriculture McDonald Island contains about 6500 acres. Soils range from Class II through IV, suitable for a range of field crops. The island has grown corn, asparagus, tomatoes, alfalfa, wheat, grapes, potatoes, safflower and soy beans. There is also significant planting of sod for commercial and residential lawns. Currently, the ranch has 155 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon grapes. The vines are 14 years old. The grapes are on a year to year lease with M&R Packing of Lodi. The owners reported that they get 19% of the revenue. The vineyard has 8 blocks with 101,044 total vine count, clone 7, Root stock 5BB. In 2009, they had over 962 tons of grapes, which were up from 822 tons in 2008. The owners also have 322 acres of farmable ground. They currently have about 300 acres planted in corn. They get about 900 to 950 tons of corn and with the recent high prices of corn, it could be a good money maker. It just depends on how much corn you want to leave for the ducks. The farm ground has grown asparagus, potatoes, sod, and corn. Someone that is interested in farming has a wide open canvas. With no meters for water, they have a multitude of options to plant a profitable crop. Taxes for 2010-2011 totaled $36,844. Of this total, $11,724 is for direct assessments such as school and college districts and 95% for the direct assessments for the central delta water agency. Improvements The club house and club house annex were barged to the island around 1945. They were recently updated in 2004 and are very clean and nice. The main club house is 3000 sq ft. It has a great room with a dining area and sitting room with 6 stained walls and ceiling. There is a great bar over looking the delta with beautiful views of Mt. Diablo. The kitchen is set up for large groups and there is nice gas fire-place in the sitting room. The long hallway has five bedrooms and three bathrooms for the hunters. The clubhouse annex is 1100 sq ft with 2 bedrooms and 1 bath. The entire deck is covered with tex wood and sits right on the levee. The Jacuzzi will help on those long hard nights. The 150 ft new dock is quite a site and the owner had their 52 ft yacht parked for several years. The farm building was built in 1996 and contains 2400 sq ft with a clear height of 14 feet. There is also 900 sq ft overhang with a slab floor. The building is all steel construction with electricity and roll up doors. There is also a kennel with concrete floors, overhead gas tanks. The care taker lives in modular home that is 3 bedrooms and 2 baths. Recreation For the duck hunter, you have just walked on to paradise. All the fields are floodable and the corn gives the waterfowl some extra incentive to stick around. The island has been a mecca for ducks and geese for years. The current owners have a manager that has been actively involved in improving the waterfowl habitat on the ranch. They have recently completed a restoration project with Ducks Unlimited that added 100 acres of wildlife habitat. The easement is for 25 years and can easily be bought out if the new owner wants crop land instead. The manager has also put in 50 wood duck nest and has been very successful with the chicks and rebuilding the population. The delta’s hundred of miles of sloughs, rivers and canals are a haven for the fisherman. Large and small mouth bass, black and stripped bass, Sturgeon, Catfish, and Salmon. If you want to go out to eat, take your boat to the many marinas near by for a great evening out. For the water skier the sloughs are protected from the wind and offer nice glassy water to ski to your hearts content. The delta has over 200 species of birds from blue heron, pelican, geese, ducks, hawks, and sand hill cranes. They estimate that over 10 million birds visit the delta every year. Weather and San Joaquin County 8 As stated on the Wikipedia website: San Joaquin County is a county located in Central Valley of the U.S. state of California , just east of the San Francisco Bay Area . As of 2006, the population is approximately 620,000. The county seat is Stockton . “San Joaquin County was one of the original counties of California, created in 1850 at the time of statehood.The county takes its name from the San Joaquin River . In the early 1800s Lieutenant Gabriel Moraga , commanding an expedition in the lower great California Central Valley , gave the name of San Joaquin (meaning Joachim ) to a rivulet that springs from the Sierra Nevada and empties into Buena Vista Lake . San Joaquin County is also home to the site of the San Joaquin Valley 's first permanent residence.The Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta is an example of an inverted river delta , one of only a few worldwide. The fan-shaped area of the delta converges downstream, rather than diverging, as the two rivers are forced to exit the Central Valley through the Coast Range via the narrow channel known as the Carquinez Strait , which leads to the San Francisco Bay and ultimately the Pacific Ocean through the Golden Gate .The delta consists of myriad small natural and man-made channels (locally called sloughs ), creating a system of isolated lowland islands and wetlands defined by dikes or levees .